Tag: Creative

Wednesday 9. of march, Lotte Littau the CEO of the successful Danish company: Creativ Company visited me in the Though-Leader Series. Creativ Company is a 125 employee’s large company producing and selling hobby items for use in public institutions, as well as private companies with focus on creativity. Creativ Company has been rewarded the honour of being the second best place to work in Denmark, and on a European scale the 9th best place to work. These rewards are what define Creativ Company as an organization.

Creativ Company was founded out of a failed fusion from a former partnership, and the motive for establishing the company was pure revenge. As Lotte said, there are a lot of great different motives for starting a company, but one of the greatest is revenge. Usually revenge is considered an evil thing, but what revenge did for Creativ Company was to give the necessary drive to keep working hard for achieving the goal.

The first step of the start-up was a trip to the USA, attending trade-fairs to find interesting product and solutions for the foundation of the company. Lotte Littau’s husband is a farmer and one of the barns was cleaned out to make room for the first stock of Creativ Company. It took one month from idea to reality and in year 2000 the company was in business. Since then the Company has grown out of the barn and is today in 6,500 m2 large building located in Holstebro.

One of the first success stories Lotte Littau remembers from being an entrepreneur was a record sale of DKK 6,500 on one single day. DKK 6,500 does might not seem like a lot of money, and Lotte could also admit that 6,500 is not quite enough for running the business today; however the experience had made an impact on her.

Since 2000 the company has grown to a 125 employee’s large body and the values of being a start-up has developed into organizational values. This is a challenge for every growing organization, but Creativ Company has done quite well due to great focus on the work environment. One of the reasons why Creativ Company has been rewarded honourable prices for their work environment is due to Creativ Company’s effort in creating a diverse work environment with employees of many different qualifications. At Creativ Company they have created a workshop, where 15 employees that would usually not be able to carry out a job are being helped to have a meaningful work day, while they create value for the company. Because as Lotte Littau believes; it is every company’s duty to take responsibility in the local community.

Lotto Littau presented and interesting aspect on the perception of rules: “If a rule is stupid, break it”. This statement seems to be quite representative for the way Creativ Company is doing business. The company is focused on doing things as smooth as possible and the organizational structure is very flat. The way Lotte is managing the company is with care but with demands. She expects each of her employees to take responsibility in the common wellbeing of the company. And only if the company is doing well Lotte has the opportunity to pay back the employees with social benefits. “It is short term thinking not investing socially in the employees,” that might be the greatest definition of the organizational believe that is held by Creativ Company. Not just is Lotte and Creativ Company challenging the statuesque, they do also do what others say cannot be done, and is criticised for being an unhealthy way of doing business. However Creativ Company has been steady growing since it foundation back in 2000 and is not ready to change, but ready to do better.

The students have given a lot of positive feedback on the presentation carried out by Lotte Littau, and even though Lotte explained that she is not the usual public speaker of the company, she did a very inspiring job. As Creativ Company is growing they will experience challenges, and one of them is how to remain and spread the organizational values of the company to new departments at new locations.